Genius

"I sometimes ask myself how it came about that I was the one to develop the
theory of relativity. The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to
think about problems of space and time. These are things, which he has thought
about as a child. But my intellectual development was retarded, as a result of
which I began to wonder about space and time only when I had already grown up".
Albert Einstein

The term “genius” has been applied to people of exceptional accomplishment.
While it is true that people who accomplish great things are more intelligent
than average, it is not true that intelligence tests or school scores can
reliably predict who will excel and become great scientists or great innovators
in any field. While it is self-evident that the brains of intelligent people
work better than the brains of less intelligent people, it is not true that
genius can be predicted by any simple measure of brain structure or function.

Everyone agrees that Albert Einstein was intelligent. Does everyone agree
that new children born on planet earth should be directed to become more like
Albert Einstein and less like Adolph Hitler? Do we understand the difference?
Who can steer the course of children one way or the other? Is it biology that
comes first or schooling? Do parents play a determining role? Do peer groups and
movies have a dominant role? What if we could combine Albert Einstein and the
Dalai Lama as the goal for our children's' development? Both won Nobel Prizes
and are recognized worldwide as exemplary humans even though their knowledge,
skills and social status were very different. Can every child aspire to become
exemplary or are these two exemplars rarely gifted individuals who appear only
once in 100 million births?

Albert said his secret of success was that he was child-like. The Dalai Lama
states that he is just a Buddhist Monk and he is known for his good humor and
child-like delight in simple pleasures. Another Nobel prize-winning exemplar,
Richard Feynman, was known for his child-like but effective explanatory diagrams
that depicted particle events in Quantum Physics. Feynman pictured an electron
going from point A to point B, not by one path, but by taking all possible paths
at once. Richard enjoyed beating drums and being happy. He played bongos and
chanted nonsense verses. He remarked: “It is odd, but on the infrequent
occasions when I have been called upon in a formal place to play the bongo
drums, the introducer never seems to find it necessary to mention that I also do
theoretical physics."Feynman's remark points to an issue in the consideration of
intelligence - the specific versus the general. There is a common argument that
gifted people are specialists in one area and may be limited in other pursuits.
Another argument suggests that there is a general intelligence that is
applicable to solving all life's problems and expressing all human traits.
Albert Einstein, the Dalai Lama and Richard Feynman are examples of nice, smart
humans with both specialized and general abilities. All three are capable of
providing a perspective on living interesting, worthy and productive lives.

Feynman stated: “Throughout all the ages, men have been trying to fathom the
meaning of life. They realize that if some direction or some meaning could be
given to the whole thing, to our action, then great human forces would be
unleashed. So, very many answers have been given to the question of the meaning
of it all. But they have all been of different sorts. And the proponents of on
idea have looked with horror at the actions of the believers of another idea -
horror because from a disagreeing point of view, all the great potential was
being channeled into a false and confining blind alley…The dream is to find the
open channel. What then is the meaning of it all? I think that we must frankly
admit that we do not know. But I think in admitting this, we have probably found
the open channel."

Some genius is built into every human brain. We are all benefactors of a long
lineage of survivors on the journey of life, planet earth. The mental abilities
built into humans are wonders. The more you consider and study these innate
abilities, the more wonderful they become. If you study vision or try to build
robots that can navigate in a natural environment, you quickly develop great
respect for livings systems that see and move around in spacetime with accuracy
and purpose.

The picture available in your own mind sets an impossibly high standard for
man-made visual systems. The built-in genius modules are gifts and require no
effort, no education, and no morality to use. The catch is that other aspects of
human activity require abilities that are added on to the basic equipment. To
use the newer additions to intelligence, you have learn the right things and
make a sustained effort to do well. The systems in our brain that steer the
genius modules towards our desires and goals are newer, more variable, less
reliable and prone to error.

These newer brain systems require declarative and procedural learning and are
dependent on memory. They evolved in the context of small human groups who
hunted and gathered food. Individuals interacted with body language, emotions,
and simple speech. Learning consisted of copying behaviors and skills and
hearing stories that would be memorized and repeated generation after
generation.

Little has changed in the overall construction of the human brain for many
thousands of years, but we now live in large groups and have invented complex
tools and interactions that tax the capacity of each human. Small differences in
brain construction and function can mean large differences in behavior and
success in learning and practicing advanced skills. It is becoming increasingly
obvious that only a small number of humans cope well with modern complexity and
few can master the intricate skills and detailed knowledge that is required to
maintain a complex society.

The rest of humanity is more comfortable living in small groups, utilizing
older and simpler technology with a distinct preference for simple explanations,
old myths and folklore. Often, only a few humans out of a large group go beyond
the opinions and ignorance of the day. Real innovation is rare. Ignorance and
irrationality is more the rule. This is a difficult realization for idealist who
trying to imagine a just and egalitarian society based on knowledge and rational
thinking. Only a small percentage of humans in any population are knowledgeable
and capable of sustained rational thought - if we estimated 10% case, we would
not be far off.

The rational elite cluster in small enclaves such as universities and high
tech companies. If you sampled humans at Harvard, you would hope to find close
to 100 % knowledgeable and rational people. Even at Harvard, a new idea, a
different approach, or a non-conforming personality will have a hard time and
many human brain leave prestigious institutions or are ejected before they fully
manifest their brilliance or creativity. In fact, institutions herd people into
more conservative and stable lifestyles and select traits that are socially
compatible, rather than innovative or brilliant. Institutions would not be
institutions if they were not run conservatively and to some degree inhibit
innovation and change. Creative people have always struggled with and left
institutions to get on with their work. There is no relief in sight for
innovative humans.

Intelligence and Learning is part of the Psychology & Philosophy
series. 261 Pages

The author is
Stephen Gislason and the
publisher is Persona Digital Books. Download eBook

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